Seven years after the killing of rap star Notorious B.I.G., the FBI is
investigating allegations that a rogue Los Angeles police officer orchestrated
the slaying with rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, according to court documents
and law enforcement sources.
The FBI is pursuing a 6-year-old theory that then-Officer David A. Mack, acting
at Knight's request, arranged for Amir Muhammad, Mack's friend and college
roommate, to ambush the rapper outside the Petersen Automotive Museum on
Wilshire Boulevard.
Over the years, the LAPD has offered conflicting assessments of the theory,
which police at one point took seriously. Documents show that LAPD detectives
are now focusing on an alternative theory that centers on a Houston rap
entrepreneur.
Mack, Knight and Muhammad, a Southland mortgage broker, have long denied any
involvement in the 1997 killing.
"I have stated from the outset that I have nothing whatsoever to do with any of
this," Muhammad, who also uses the name Harry Billups, said in a telephone
interview Thursday from his attorney's office. "I've done nothing wrong. I don't
have anything to hide."
Knight, founder of Death Row Records, also rejected the allegations.
"I don't know David Mack or Amir Muhammad. I've never met them," he said by
phone from Mule Creek State Prison, where he is serving time for a probation
violation. "The FBI has never contacted me, but I'm glad they are looking into
all of this stuff. I hope they solve it."
Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was gunned down just
after midnight March 9, 1997, in front of hundreds of people who had just left a
music industry party at the Petersen museum. The Brooklyn rapper was sitting in
the passenger seat of a sport utility vehicle at a red light when a lone
assassin in a dark Impala pulled up in the neighboring lane and opened fire.
The killing occurred six months after rap star Tupac Shakur was fatally wounded
in a drive-by attack in Las Vegas.
B.I.G. and Tupac
No one has ever been charged in either killing.
Early on, detectives speculated that the murders may have stemmed from a rivalry
between East Coast and West Coast rappers. Before their deaths, Shakur and
Wallace had been feuding, and a rivalry between their record labels, Los
Angeles-based Death Row and New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment, had escalated
into a series of assaults and shootings.
Each label used gang members for protection, and police investigated the
possibility that both killings were committed by members of Compton's Southside
Crips gang.
The theory now being investigated by the FBI was first advanced in 1998 by then-LAPD
Det. Russell Poole.
According to Poole, Knight had Shakur killed because the rap star was about to
leave his label — and Knight then had Wallace murdered to make it appear that
both slayings were the result of a bicoastal rap feud. Poole contends that
Knight may have used corrupt police officers to help carry out both murders.
Mack, onetime partner of disgraced former LAPD Officer Rafael Perez, came under
suspicion after he was arrested in December 1997 for robbing a bank. He was
later convicted and is serving a 14-year prison term.
Mack owned a black Impala similar to the car used in the Wallace slaying, and a
witness reported seeing him at the scene. Informants told investigators that
Mack may have provided security for Knight. Both men grew up in Compton.
Poole began scrutinizing Muhammad, who was a classmate of Mack's at the
University of Oregon, after learning that he had visited Mack in prison in
December 1997. Several months earlier, a jailhouse informant had told detectives
that Wallace's killer was a Southside Crip who went by a Middle Eastern name,
possibly "Amir" or "Ashmir" — and that his true name might be Abraham or Kenny
or Keeky.
Suge Knight
A driver's license photo of Muhammad resembles a police sketch of Wallace's
killer based on witness descriptions. One witness told police he saw a man who
resembled Muhammad outside the Petersen museum the night of the shooting.
Muhammad, in the phone interview, said the account was unfounded. "Anybody who
says they saw me there that night or that I had anything to do with this is a
liar," he said..
Poole resigned from the LAPD in 1999 after disputes with his superiors about the
direction of various investigations, including the one into Wallace's murder. .
Since then, Poole has promoted his theory of the Wallace slaying in newspaper
interviews and books and through appearances on documentaries and TV shows. He
has endorsed a screenplay treatment of it that is being shopped to Hollywood
studios. Actor Sylvester Stallone has discussed portraying Poole in a movie.
Poole also joined forces with Wallace's mother, Voletta, who filed a
wrongful-death suit against the city of Los Angeles two years ago. The suit
contends the LAPD covered up police involvement in the rapper's killing.
The case is scheduled to go to trial July 27 in federal court in Los Angeles,
with Poole testifying as an expert witness for the plaintiffs. Lawyers in the
case have taken depositions from Poole and other police officers tied to the
Wallace investigation. In those depositions, which have been sealed under court
order, officers disclose details about the FBI probe.
Is This David Mack The Killer?
The FBI's interest in the case was sparked by a TV special on the Wallace
killing aired on the VH1 cable channel last summer. An FBI agent who saw the
show later contacted attorneys for the Wallace family, who alleged that
witnesses were afraid to talk to LAPD detectives about the case, documents show.
The FBI has interviewed several witnesses at the suggestion of the Wallace
family's lawyers. Depositions suggest that agents have reviewed Muhammad's
mortgage payments and phone records and conducted wiretaps, trying to link him
to Mack..
The FBI recently conducted surveillance of Muhammad in San Diego and, sources
said, wired an informant in an attempt to elicit incriminating statements from
him. The effort yielded nothing, according to court documents and people
familiar with the case...
An FBI agent recently tried to interview Mack at the federal prison in Alabama
where he is serving 14 years for the 1997 bank robbery. Mack denied having
anything to do with the Wallace murder, according to court records and sources..
The FBI declined to comment on the investigation. Documents indicate that the
bureau is coordinating its work with the LAPD's Professional Standards Bureau,
which looks into alleged police misconduct..
LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Berkow, head of the bureau, said Friday: "This is a
joint FBI-LAPD investigation, and the LAPD is cooperating 100%."...
Court documents, however, show that LAPD robbery-homicide detectives are
focusing on a possible Texas connection to the Wallace slaying unrelated to the
Poole theory...
Police have interviewed the owner of a blue 1996 Bentley that they suspect
played a role in the shooting. Since September, police have traveled several
times to Houston to interview witnesses and pursue leads about potential new
suspects — including a Houston rap entrepreneur and his friend who were
allegedly near the crime scene on the night of the shooting, records show..
So far, Police have produced no evidence tying the Bentley or either man to the
killing, sources said.
If you are interested in this case you must see the film
Biggie and
Tupac by Nick Broomfield.
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